1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for providing a participant in a virtual world with means for intuitively navigating through the virtual world more quickly. More particularly, the present invention relates to a technique for providing selectable navigation hot spots in a virtual world which a user may select to automatically move to a hot spot associated location in the virtual world.
2. Description of the Related Art
The Internet has existed for a number of years as a means for exchanging information. The first phase in the development of the Internet was the development of a TCP/IP infrastructure which permitted documents and data to be stored on a networked system of computers which permitted access of the documents by users of the Internet. This system was difficult to use, as access was restricted to serious or expert level computer users who could maintain internal cognitive maps of data space.
The next phase of the Internet development was the development of the World Wide Web, which is a hypermedia system which added another layer of abstraction to the existing Internet structure. This abstraction provided an addressing scheme in the form of a unique identifier or universal resource locator (URL). With this system, anyone could tell where to go and how to get there for any document or piece of data within the Web. This permitted use by novice computer users. However, the only form of navigation consisted of direct reference in the form of a URL such as "http:.backslash..backslash.www.ibm.com.backslash.". In combination with Internet search engines that have been developed for finding URLs for information on the Web, the World Wide Web now provides a retrieval mechanism which compliments the original storage mechanism of the Internet. Still, the system is not entirely user friendly as the user must rely on rigid addressing standards, search engines for finding URLs/addresses, and links within documents to navigate through the World Wide Web.
The recent explosion in popularity of the Internet can be attributed to a number of factors, the advent of the World Wide Web among them. Another factor has been the decreasing cost of computers and related technologies, and the increases in the speed of communication via high speed modems and the like. This has made possible the graphic-rich portion of the Internet, which is accessed via the World Wide Web. This graphic rich content has given the Internet the mass appeal that it previously lacked.
In the World Wide Web, documents or sites are typically written in the definition language known as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). Until very recently, the World Wide Web comprised sites which include almost exclusively two dimensional graphics. This was due in part to limitations inherent in HTML. The Internet itself is a large number of computers networked together which contains a large number of sites. Each site has its own unique URL which identifies the computer on the Internet on which the site resides. Typically, a user accesses a site on the Internet from a personal computer via a phone line to an Internet service provider which links the user to the Internet. The user needs Web browser software, such as Netscape Navigator from Netscape Communications Corporation or WebExplorer from the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), on his or her computer in order to view most World Wide Web content on the Internet. The Web browser software is able to display the HTML content of World Wide Web sites on the user's monitor.
While it was the advent of two dimensional graphically intense Web sites that spurred the popularity of the Internet, the next level of technology may bring Internets, internal networks such as intranets, and networks in general to a new level. This third phase of Internet development has been the introduction of intranetworks, which are essentially documents and their data (World Wide Web sites) which have been rendered sensually. That is, a user interacts or exists within a site or intranetwork and experiences and perceives the site from within. This new Internet technology involves three dimensional technology which permits simulation of real world objects. The three dimensional technology, also known as virtual reality, permits users to enter three dimensional worlds. Additionally, this three dimensional phase of the Internet permits worlds in which actual people actually participate interactively with each other.
However, this technology is still embryonic. The technology is written in a definition language known as Virtual Reality Modelling Language (VRML). VRML is a language for describing multi-participant interactive simulations in virtual worlds networked via the global Internet and hyperlinked with the World Wide Web. To appropriately view or access a VRML document or site on the World Wide Web, a user is required to have an appropriate VRML viewer or browser in addition to (or in combination with) a Web browser.
As virtual worlds become a reality, virtual worlds will provide a number of advantages over two dimensional documents that will become apparent. Three dimensional worlds hold a promising future in the area of electronic commerce, as users of an electronic store or electronic mall can shop through the store and see the items that are available. It is also anticipated that virtual worlds will become prevalent in business and social environments as well.
However, virtual worlds in use today lack a number of systems and characteristics which will make them more acceptable to the general public and enhance usability. One current problem with virtual worlds is that it is difficult for a user to navigate his or her avatar through a virtual world in order to see what is to be seen and participate in the activities available in the virtual world. Basically, a user navigates his avatar through a virtual world using a set of sometimes awkward controls which are manipulated via a mouse to perform something akin to a human walking. The user's viewpoint or visual perspective is that of the avatar; that is, the user sees what the avatar sees. With these controls, the user controls the direction and speed in which the avatar walks, where the avatar looks, etc. Such interaction with a virtual world can be relatively slow. One solution to this problem is proposed in "The VRML 2.0 Handbook" by J. Hartman and J. Wernecke at pages 160-168. This solution provides signs which users may select to take a predetermined animated tour of the virtual world, preferably via a conveyance of some type, such as a train or moving sidewalk. Thus, users may be provided automatic tours of a virtual world. However, this solution certainly does not address all aspects of the navigation difficulties that users encounter in a virtual world.
Accordingly, a need exists for an enhanced mechanism for permitting a user to navigate through a virtual world.